Wonderland

And no, I'm not talking about one of my favorite local bars....

I'm talking about the steep compliment I got from my oldest today. And believe me, she wasn't necessarily trying to pay me one, she was just making some wacky, slightly off point comment. But I liked it. I like it so much more now, but I liked it when she said it because it was so unexpected.

Let's back up.

While eating dinner tonight my oldest, seemingly totally out of the blue, asked me,  "Do you know what Princess you remind me of?"

I hemmed and hawed a bit, actually having been asked this question before, but my middle daughter piped up almost right away with, "Belle!" Now I consider Belle a good pick, in that she doesn't follow the crowd, and sees the good in even the most unlikely of places/people, and is a voracious reader. But alas, it wasn't Belle she was thinking of....

I ventured, "Sleeping Beauty?" knowing as I do that her name is Aurora, which is where I was born and half raised, and that she has long blond-ish hair. Still never having seen Sleeping Beauty, so not knowing her "personality," I thought my oldest might just be going on the superficials.

But no, she came back with (something like), "Well, she really isn't a princess, not a Disney one, but I don't know, she's kind-of one."

"You remind me of Alice."

"Alice?" I replied, slightly shocked.

Now, I've been Alice for Halloween more than once. Once in the last two years, actually. I can pull off the traditional hair with not much more than a black headband. But Alice? Now, does my girl somehow know about my young adult recreational drug use? Or does she simply think I'm a little nutty? Or living in my own delusional world?

Alice?

Really?

I did not see the connection of her comment to anything, but then the girls filled me in that the family movie we'd be watching tonight was Alice in Wonderland -- Tim Burton's 2010 Alice in Wonderland.

I'd never seen it before.

But I have to say, after having done so, well, my girl paid me quite the compliment. I grant you, she might have based it solely on the fact that Mia Wasikowska, the woman who plays Alice in the movie, has a less than thin nose, and less than large breasts, and dirty blond hair, which are not the things I think are especially complimentary.

But I'm going to cling to the possibility that I reminder her of Alice because of her character traits. The movie starts out with Alice bucking convention at her own (if unknown) engagement party, and then falling down the rabbit hole to that crazy world that makes no sense at all, but which she is somehow able to navigate. Time and time again she rises above the crazy-ass shit that comes her way and manages to move forward. She finds her way. She makes friends that can help her. Um, and let's not forget that the Hatter is none other than Johnny Depp. Way better than Prince Charming any day, am I right?

I know, I know, I'm reading WAY too much into this off-handed comment at dinner, but if Alice can slay the jabberwocky, and my girl says it is she who I remind her of, than goddammit, I can slay whatever jabberwocky comes my way too.

Alice Kingsley: From the moment I fell down that rabbit hole I've been told where I must go and who I must be. I've been shrunk, stretched, scratched, and stuffed into a teapot. I've been accused of being Alice and of not being Alice but this is *my* dream. *I'll* decide where it goes from here.

Thank you, baby girl, for the unintended vote of confidence. I'll take it. xoxo